Defensively, in a recent scrimmage with Tunkhannock and Montrose, the Lady Rams never abandoned man-to-man defense.

“I was generally pleased with our man defense,” Schulze said. “I want the kids to be able to play man and zone, but sometimes going to zone is a concession that you’re not matching up.”

If Schulze has concerns heading into the season, they are few and hopefully solvable.

Proven depth is a concern, especially behind Daly and Kneller inside and to spell Holdren on the point.

“Definitely we’re looking for players five through eight to prove themselves,” Schulze said. “All of our roster players have some strength, so a lot will be seeing which players can fill the missing pieces of the puzzle.”

While there is potential among the freshmen, the lack of a proven outside scoring threat to take heat off the big girls needs to be resolved.

Often, girls’ teams have difficulty finding leadership from within the squad. Schulze hopes leaders step up this year.

“We’ve challenged the kids that leadership can’t be silent. They need to be vocal on the court and in the locker room and keep everyone rowing the same way and putting the team first.

“We want to be the best team, regardless of where our individuals stack up.”

Looking at the league race, graduation may have finally brought Sayre and Towanda, who have been major roadblocks for the Lady Rams the past three seasons, back to the pack.

But as always, there are new challengers.

“Athens really didn’t lose much from last year,” Schulze noted. “Towanda has a couple key players back and a strong supporting cast.”

Still, he hopes this can be the year when a new banner gets hung in Layman Gymnasium.

“We certainly hope and expect to be able to go toe to toe with them,” he said.

The four freshmen will also dress and play in the junior varsity games for new coach Deirdre Huber, who moved up after several seasons as junior high coach. The other junior varsity players include sophomores Danielle Clark and Ciera Holland and freshmen Keon Copp, Pam Kelley and Morgan Sutton.

Five returning letterwinners will lead the Wyalusing Valley girls’ basketball team into the 2010-2011 season opener at the Bush Memorial Tournament at Cowanesque Valley on Dec. 9-10. Pictured are, kneeling from left, Courtney Eberlin and Laci Holdren. Standing: Mackenzie Martin, Arielle Kneller and Alexis Daly.